44 SAIL UPON FIRST NORTHERN CRUIZE. 



towards the expenses of which the Imperial Govern- 

 ment were willing to contribute, provided it were 

 made of such a size as to be available for larg'e 

 steamers and line-of-battle ships. 



In comphance with a requisition from Sir Charles 

 Fitzroy, the Governor of New South Wales, Capt. 

 Stanley, in the Bramble, paid a visit to Twofold Bay, 

 200 miles to the southward of Sydney, a place of 

 rising importance as a harbour, also in connexion 

 with whahno- estabhshments, and the extensive ad- 

 joining' pastoral district of Maneroo. The bay was 

 resm'veyed, with a view to test the comparative 

 merits of the two townships there, — one founded by 

 government, the other by private enterprise. After 

 all, I believe, the advantages afforded by each of 

 the rival establishments are so equally divided, that 

 the question still remains an open one. 



Oct. llth. — After a protracted stay in Sydney of 

 very nearly three months, we were at length enabled 

 to start upon our first cruize to the northward, the 

 object of which was to make a survey of Port Curtis 

 and part of the Inshore Passage leading up to 

 Torres Strait. The Rattlesnake and tender got 

 under weigh soon after daybreak and ran out of 

 Port Jackson to the northward with a fine S. E. 

 wind. In the evening the Bramble parted com- 

 pany, her present destination being Port Stephens, 



large vessel in the Australian colonies requiring repaii's, which 

 cannot be effected by the process of " heaving down," will find 

 no suitable place nearer than Bombay. 



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